Clouds cover the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the northeast and descend over the mesa in one gray sheet this morning. I don’t have to check the forecast. Wet weather is moving here.

The view to the north this morning.

I love reading our big sky in Taos.

The sun is out 340 days or more. We get fiery sunrises and sunsets. At night, the dark sky is heavy with stars. I’ve seen meteors, including one that hit the mesa miles away in a shattering display of light.

For the most part, it is a quiet sky, with few aircraft except for the occasional private plane or a military jet doing maneuvers. A couple of years ago, people got upset when the air force announced it wanted to send low-flying jets to train here. But the military dropped that plan, at least for now.

The most drama comes during our monsoon season in late summer when chain lightning breaks across the sky.

During the day, the birds rule. Hawks circle as they search the ground. Flocks of squawking piñon jays swoop through the neighborhood although less now that a neighbor who fed them moved.

And then there are the ravens, talkative birds with wing spans of up to four feet. The other day I watched a raven chase a red-tailed hawk a good distance. My naturalist friend, Steve, called it mobbing. Ravens have their territories and remarkably will fend off even large birds of prey from their piece of the sky.